Clearing the plate.

On the eve of their centenary birthday celebration, the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) has again proved the adage that "Too many cooks spoil the broth." In a dispute as to who should cater its dining cars, SBB managment has decided to put on the chef's cap itself.

The management at Swiss Federal Railways has not only agreed that having two private firms cater its dining cars amounts to one too many--it has decided to take over the top chef role itself.

This, say neutral observers, explains the passenger services late April decision to buy a controlling interest in Zurich-based caterer Passagio Rail and to dismiss its Bern-based competitor Mitropa Suisse SA.

The SBB's decision to don a chef's hat follows the railways' announcement that it will reduce the current 40/60 ratio of smoking/nonsmoking cars in the years ahead and phase smoking cars out entirely within the decade.

SBB CEO Benedikt Weibel likens his future rail service to those offered by the "smoke-free" airlines--an abrupt turn-around from the outlook just a few years back when the SBB introduced bilevel trains on the Geneva-Beme-Zurich-St. Gallen mainline. Asked then if nonsmoking trains were envisioned "down the road," news media spokesman Christian Krauchi said flatly, "No, we couldn't do that. Passengers wouldn't stand for it."

But the SBB--privatized since 1999--has proved recently that it can now break with tradition to an extent forbidden under public ownership. Marketing research clearly convinced top management that most passengers would support a "no smoking" policy after all. It only needed to introduce the reform piecemeal instead of decreeing a "cold turkey" approach.

The bolder look also affects Switzerland's privatized rail-freight arm, Swiss Cargo AG. Early setbacks may have dimmed its vision of becoming Europe's transport hub from its new seat in Basel. Yet it still pursues a far more ambitious outreach strategy with neighboring "partners" than public ownership used to allow.

The passenger service's dining car venture signals another break from tradition. Here, industry analysts note, a different brand of pragmatism emerges. Though the SBB paid lip service to the private-sector credo of fostering competition when it became privatized, it has now retreated to a more predictable formula. Critics call it a fast-food monopoly.

Leaving the scene in mid-December will be Mitropa Suisse, subsidiary of a Berlin-based rail diner firm noted for its up-scale menus and elegant service. Under the outgoing "duopoly" setup, Mitropa accounted for 40 per cent of the SBB food-catering market, Passagio for 60 per cent. Since Mitropa won a 1997 contract to share the market with Passagio, industry insiders have wondered if either firm could ever profit from the arrangement.

Passagio's CEO Jurg Stettler admits that "there wasn't enough room for two caterers." The SBB evidently agreed last December when it bought a 60 per cent share of Passagio. The move left Mitropa Suisse in the untenable role of a tenant competing against its landlord.

A short-term labor problem was solved when Passagio agreed to absorb the Mitropa Suisse staff. Kitchen and dining car workers generally welcome the accord, for Passagio's simple menu demands less of those serving it. The rail-riding public maybe less easy to placate.

High Speeds, Fast Food

SBB riders to Expo 02 sites in Biel/Bienne, Murat, Neuchatel, and Yverdon these days can judge the clear menu difference for themselves. Mitropa Suisse offers a firstclass meal in an elegant setting aboard the fast-moving ICN "tilting" trains. Riders on German Rail have also enjoyed such service since 1995--notably on sleek high-speed Intercity Express (ICE) trains.

But, as former Mitropa Suisse managing director Martin Kiefer explained when the ICN debuted this deluxe dining experience, the faster the trains, the shorter the interval between stops, and the tougher the task of restaurant car staff. It's a special problem for diners and caterers alike in compact Switzerland.

"We need to have speedy service," Kiefer says. "You have to present the full menu in 30 minutes. Waiters and diners have to bob and weave a bit as they pass along the aisle on the Swiss ICN. If the ambiance pleases the customer, that's fine. Yet we'll never sell burgers and French fries. And we've never thought of popcorn. That's just out."

This comment--a backhanded slap at rival Passagio [then the Swiss Restaurant Corporation or SSG] as well as the American Amtrak zapped-food menu--sums up Mitropa Suisse's "fine dining" philosophy. It also reminds this country's rail passengers of an option soon to vanish for them. Yet the German caterer will continue to offer meals aboard Citynightline overnight trains to Berlin, Hamburg and Leipzig-Dresden.

Mitropa won a big contract to serve passengers on the French high-speed TGV trains in 1997. But the French reputation for elegant dining doesn't apply to mobile restaurants. In one of rail travel's great ironies, the Swiss and even the Germans provided a far higher quality food service than the French enjoy--or apparently even demand.

"The French have never been known for top-quality dining cars," Kiefer says. "The French need an intimate restaurant. They'd rather ride the TGV 'Mediteranee' three hours from Paris to Marseilles or to Montpelier and stop at the train's bar bistro. Then they'll eat at a local restaurant at 10 p.m. after arrival."

The TGV created this pattern in 1982 when its first high-speed trains whizzed along the tracks on the two-hour trip from Paris to Lyons. Railcar designers bore French cultural priorities in mind from the start.

"We still have disappointed American tourists on the TGV asking "Where's the dinner?'" Kiefer says. "But it's the speed and not the service on board that's important to the French."

It's just the opposite on the equally speedy ICE cars in Germany, where first-class passengers demand a first-class restaurant galley and top-flight service with charming decor.

The ICN design made its debut during the 1990s, and Kiefer calls the Munich-to-Berlin ride "a fantastic train, much more comfortable than the TGV but much more complicated technically."

Where the TGV still has only one door per coach, the ICE has two. This speeds boarding and debarking, but it also places special demands on dining cars. New general German IC3 trains have an impressive dining-car design, though SBB press spokesman Reto Kormann gives the Swiss ICN model an edge in ambiance.

The German only have tables for four, while the Swiss have roundtables serving six. But SBB car designers staggered the tables on ICN cars. It creates a visually more appealing "look," even if it adds to the complexity of walking through the coach.

The Swiss dining car seats only 23 passengers, but the SBB eased that problem by designing all first-class compartments on the ICN with tables to serve laptop PC users, card players, and diners. That may add 100 seats to the extended dining area. Mitropa waiters take orders in these sections as well as in the dining car. The SBB can also couple two dining cars to double capacity.

Just how Passagio Rail plans to convert all this first-class ambiance under the new regime remains an open question. Will it downgrade the diners to its standard "bistro"" level? Or will its SBB-controlled management upgrade the menu above the "McDonaldized" fast-food level of zapped burgers, peanuts, popcorn, and colas?

Former Mitropa Suisse CEO Kiefer insisted that his firm would never resort to fast food-no matter what a strain train speed put on meal servers.

"We're a living company," he insists. "We have new innovations as situations change. And we learn things!"

As the rail catering structure shifts from duopoly back to monopoly, passengers eagerly await word on the new lessons for SBB management.

RELATED ARTICLE: SBB: 100 Year Track Record

Year 2002 marks the 100th anniversary of the Swiss Federal Railway system, which came into existence in 1902 after an overwhelming majority of the Swiss population voted in favor of nationalizing what would become one of its most beloved ideological symbols.

Until the turn of the century the Swiss railways were operated by a number of private companies with varying financial success. But the competitive struggle between these companies became excessive, which forced Swiss politicians to intervene.

On January 1, 1902, the country's principal lines were nationalized following an 1898 referendum in which 386,634 of the Swiss voting population in favor of nationalization outnumbered the 182,718 against it. The network took the name of Swiss Federal Railways (SBB). In 1909 the St. Gotthard line was nationalized in its turn. A little under a century later, the Lake of Constance railway from Schaffhausen to Romanshorn became the first SBB line to be reprivatised, while in 1999 the SBB itself was transformed into a limited joint-stock company with the state as its 100 per cent shareholder.

The SBB's first one-hundred years were not always smooth however. The First World War resulted in serious bottlenecks in the supply of fuel and lubricants, which had a disastrous effect on railway operations since the trains were still mainly pulled by steam locomotives. The attempts which had begun at the end of the 19th century to use electric power were intensified and this led to rapid development towards electrification of the network.

In the 1920s and 1930s, several types of electric locomotive were developed. Their silhouettes marked the Swiss railway landscape for many years. The features of the Crocodile Locomotive Ce 6/8, which was used for heavy transport in the mountains, obtained world renown, while the Ae 3/6 and the Ae 4/7 did most of the work on the other lines. Both types of locomotive remained in service right into the 1990s.

Coaches made of light metal were introduced after the Second World War as were the first locomotives with all-axle drive (e.g. the Re 4/4 I). In 1956, third-class seating was abolished. A short time later, the luxury TEEs (Trans Europe Express) were introduced to link Europe's most important cities. These were later succeeded by the French TGV (trains a grande vitesse) and the German ICE (InterCity Express). In 1981 Geneva became the first Swiss city to be linked to Paris with these new trains, followed by Lausanne in 1983 and Bern in 1987. Since 1996, fast tilting trains-the Pendolino-have run between Switzerland and Italy. In 1982, the Swiss railway network, which has more than 5,000 km of line, began running according to a an hourly schedule.

Today, Switzerland has one of the world's densest line networks, with nearly 6,500 trains traveling to almost 750 stations throughout the land. This is supplemented by a no-less expansive array of other means of public transport, which is composed of around 500 railway, bus, tram, cablecar and lake boat enterprises.

The Swiss themselves are enthusiastic rail travelers. At 41, the average number of annual rail trips per capita in Switzerland is exceeded only by Japan, and there are more than 224,000 holders of "General Abonnements," an annual railpass granting unlimited access to Switzerland's entire railway network, and around 1.8 million holders of the "Half-Fare" card.

In total, the SBB transport around 275 million passengers and nearly 60 million tons of goods per year. SBB's share in the railway transport market is 87 per cent in passenger traffic, and as much as 94 per cent in goods transport. Around 28,000 railwaymen and railwaywomen accomplish their task with the help of a highly-developed apparatus.